Magic Baits Over The Years

[roadwarrior]

Jitterbug

Creme Purple Worm

Jig & Pig

Lazy Ike

Floating Rapala

Rat-L-Trap

Devil's Horse

Lucky 13                                                             
Flutter Spoon

Spinnerbait

Senko

Fat Ika

Alabama Rig

Hollow Frogs

Hollow Belly Swimbaits

Bandit 200

Norman Fat Boy 

Rage Structure Bug

 

[Mobasser]

2 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Jitterbug

Creme Purple Worm

Jig & Pig

Lazy Ike

Floating Rapala

Rat-L-Trap

Devil's Horse

Lucky 13

Flutter Spoon

Spinnerbait

Senko

Fat Ika

Alabama Rig

Hollow Frogs

Hollow Belly Swimbaits

Bandit 200

 

What would you add to this list?

Norman Fat Boy 

Rage Structure Bug

 

Roboworm, Mann's Jelly Worm,  Culprit Ribbontail,, Mr. Twister Phenom, Beetlespin.

[Choporoz]

I have not caught a bass on half of those.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Zoom super fluke , neko rig , strike King rage craw, 

[Mobasser]

I'll also add Heddon Zara Spook, and Rebel Pop R.

[J Francho]

The first magical bait for me was a Rebel Deep Wee R.  Frog and craw patterns were the hot ticket.  I caught hundreds of bass on a couple lures that cost less than $3 at the time, which was a small fortune for an artificial bait.  Minimum wage was half that, so consider that along with current minimum wages and the price of a Lucky Craft bait, and you get the picture.  It was expensive, but way cheaper than buying worms, and a lot less time spent digging for them.

 

Next up was a Texas rigged curly tail worm.  A guy in a bass boat pulled two fish from the slop near our dock where I was fishing, and that his bait could not only get through that stuff without becoming a giant green wig, there were fish to be caught in there.  It was a real revelation for my 12 year old brain.  That guy gave me a bag of Culprits, some offset hooks, and bullet weights.  He showed me how to tie it up and rig it.  Whatever angler I am today, I owe it to that guy.  80% of the shoreline opened up for fishing that was previously inaccessible.  Thanks dude.

 

Shortly after that, the Slugg-O came into being.  I would say it was as big a deal, if not bigger than the Senko.  People that normally didn't fish could get the hang of it quickly, and immediately catch.  It was weedless and weightless, so any decent spinning or spincast gear laying around worked fine.  Skipping docks in the evening became common sport for many boaters - most not anglers.  You could get reasonably close to cover, and skip that bait under and twitch it back without need for a trolling motor.  These baits eventually evolved into what we call flukes these days.  In-Fisherman archives has a great article on this segment of baits.

 

The Senko.  Not much to say here.  I still throw them.  Great baits.  Lots of ways to rig them.

 

The next magic bait for me is actually two: Lucky Craft Sammy and Megabass Popmax.  I've fished topwaters since I was a kid.  Wooden Lucky 13 "plugs" were an old stand by.  Later Spooks came into play, once I learned how to walk them.  Bt it was the Sammy and Popmax that got me to throw these almost whenever, not the usual dawn/dusk presentation, and not just shallow. They are a top 3 go to bait in many situations, and may be the only thing I throw ALL DAY LONG.

 

There are other baits that I throw regularly like jigs, spinnerbaits, cranks, frogs, big swimbaits, etc., and there are rigs that use quite a bit that are key to my success and probably define me as a type of angler, like Drop Shot and Wacky Jigs, but they weren't magical like what I detailed above.

 

I hope this forum brings these experiences to new anglers.  I'd love to hear that story.

 

 

 

 

[DaubsNU1]

Ones I have, and have used:

Jitterbug:  love em, still carry in my tackle box...fun to watch bass hammer this lure!

Jig & Pig: have a ton, never really caught fish consistently...probably fishing them wrong

Lazy Ike: never caught a d**n thing off this lure...one of the first lures in my tackle box as a kid

Floating Rapala: I do like in certain situations

Rat-L-Trap: Really like traps...catch bass, musky and pike.

Devil's Horse: fun to fish, caught very few fish on them...mainly small bass

Spinnerbait: still a go-to...hard to beat!

Senko: Wow...love em!

Lucky 13: Another in my tackle box for years...never caught fish                                      

Flutter Spoon: have them, never really fish them

Norman Fat Boy: again, have them...don't fish cranks much.

Bandit 200: see above...

 

Don't have em:

Creme Purple Worm

Fat Ika

Alabama Rig

Hollow Frogs

Hollow Belly Swimbaits

Rage Structure Bug

[Mobasser]

31 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The first magical bait for me was a Rebel Deep Wee R.  Frog and craw patterns were the hot ticket.  I caught hundreds of bass on a couple lures that cost less than $3 at the time, which was a small fortune for an artificial bait.  Minimum wage was half that, so consider that along with current minimum wages and the price of a Lucky Craft bait, and you get the picture.  It was expensive, but way cheaper than buying worms, and a lot less time spent digging for them.

 

Next up was a Texas rigged curly tail worm.  A guy in a bass boat pulled two fish from the slop near our dock where I was fishing, and that his bait could not only get through that stuff without becoming a giant green wig, there were fish to be caught in there.  It was a real revelation for my 12 year old brain.  That guy gave me a bag of Culprits, some offset hooks, and bullet weights.  He showed me how to tie it up and rig it.  Whatever angler I am today, I owe it to that guy.  80% of the shoreline opened up for fishing that was previously inaccessible.  Thanks dude.

 

Shortly after that, the Slugg-O came into being.  I would say it was as big a deal, if not bigger than the Senko.  People that normally didn't fish could get the hang of it quickly, and immediately catch.  It was weedless and weightless, so any decent spinning or spincast gear laying around worked fine.  Skipping docks in the evening became common sport for many boaters - most not anglers.  You could get reasonably close to cover, and skip that bait under and twitch it back without need for a trolling motor.  These baits eventually evolved into what we call flukes these days.  In-Fisherman archives has a great article on this segment of baits.

 

The Senko.  Not much to say here.  I still throw them.  Great baits.  Lots of ways to rig them.

 

The next magic bait for me is actually two: Lucky Craft Sammy and Megabass Popmax.  I've fished topwaters since I was a kid.  Wooden Lucky 13 "plugs" were an old stand by.  Later Spooks came into play, once I learned how to walk them.  Bt it was the Sammy and Popmax that got me to throw these almost whenever, not the usual dawn/dusk presentation, and not just shallow. They are a top 3 go to bait in many situations, and may be the only thing I throw ALL DAY LONG.

 

There are other baits that I throw regularly like jigs, spinnerbaits, cranks, frogs, big swimbaits, etc., and there are rigs that use quite a bit that are key to my success and probably define me as a type of angler, like Drop Shot and Wacky Jigs, but they weren't magical like what I detailed above.

 

I hope this forum brings these experiences to new anglers.  I'd love to hear that story.

 

 

 

 

J Francho, good point on the Spook and similar walking baits. Lots of guys may not realize that these can draw strikes over deeper water too, not just shallow.

[J Francho]

How about 90 FOW?  Deep enough for ya? Tip: they weren't coming from the bottom to hit the bait, and they weren't suspended either.

[king fisher]

Helicopter lure

Dancing eel

Banjo Minnow

[Mobasser]

15 minutes ago, J Francho said:

How about 90 FOW?  Deep enough for ya? Tip: they weren't coming from the bottom to hit the bait, and they weren't suspended either.

90 FOW? None of the lakes I fish even have water that deep. Proof that they work over deep water

[Mike L]

Here is where the magic happens... Magnum UV Speed Worm

Rage Bug

Spook

Skinny Dipper

Scum Frog

Rage Cut R

 

 

[J Francho]

7 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

90 FOW? None of the lakes I fish even have water that deep. Proof that they work over deep water

Steep bluff banks and ledges.  This fish is in around 30' but came from a ledge in around 6'.  The boat is in around 60'.

 

 

[MAN]

24 minutes ago, king fisher said:

Helicopter lure

Dancing eel

Banjo Minnow

you have good taste sir

[Johnbt]

The ones that came with my father's Gillette Safety Razors.

 

 

 

Heck, there's even one - the lure - for sale on the web for $9.99 plus $4.90 shipping so it must be a classic.  

[BigAngus752]

[garroyo130]

Give a kid one good fishing day with a Rat-L-Trap and he will be hooked for life ... there's just something magical about chucking that thing 

[padon]

12 hours ago, J Francho said:

The first magical bait for me was a Rebel Deep Wee R.  Frog and craw patterns were the hot ticket.  I caught hundreds of bass on a couple lures that cost less than $3 at the time, which was a small fortune for an artificial bait.  Minimum wage was half that, so consider that along with current minimum wages and the price of a Lucky Craft bait, and you get the picture.  It was expensive, but way cheaper than buying worms, and a lot less time spent digging for them.

 

Next up was a Texas rigged curly tail worm.  A guy in a bass boat pulled two fish from the slop near our dock where I was fishing, and that his bait could not only get through that stuff without becoming a giant green wig, there were fish to be caught in there.  It was a real revelation for my 12 year old brain.  That guy gave me a bag of Culprits, some offset hooks, and bullet weights.  He showed me how to tie it up and rig it.  Whatever angler I am today, I owe it to that guy.  80% of the shoreline opened up for fishing that was previously inaccessible.  Thanks dude.

 

Shortly after that, the Slugg-O came into being.  I would say it was as big a deal, if not bigger than the Senko.  People that normally didn't fish could get the hang of it quickly, and immediately catch.  It was weedless and weightless, so any decent spinning or spincast gear laying around worked fine.  Skipping docks in the evening became common sport for many boaters - most not anglers.  You could get reasonably close to cover, and skip that bait under and twitch it back without need for a trolling motor.  These baits eventually evolved into what we call flukes these days.  In-Fisherman archives has a great article on this segment of baits.

 

The Senko.  Not much to say here.  I still throw them.  Great baits.  Lots of ways to rig them.

 

The next magic bait for me is actually two: Lucky Craft Sammy and Megabass Popmax.  I've fished topwaters since I was a kid.  Wooden Lucky 13 "plugs" were an old stand by.  Later Spooks came into play, once I learned how to walk them.  Bt it was the Sammy and Popmax that got me to throw these almost whenever, not the usual dawn/dusk presentation, and not just shallow. They are a top 3 go to bait in many situations, and may be the only thing I throw ALL DAY LONG.

 

There are other baits that I throw regularly like jigs, spinnerbaits, cranks, frogs, big swimbaits, etc., and there are rigs that use quite a bit that are key to my success and probably define me as a type of angler, like Drop Shot and Wacky Jigs, but they weren't magical like what I detailed above.

 

I hope this forum brings these experiences to new anglers.  I'd love to hear that story.

 

 

 

 

man i remember when the slugo came out. that thing was incredible. the fish nor i had ever seen anything like it. it was unreal. you threw that thing on a grass flat or around laydowns and fish would just appear out of nowhere and eat it. the senko well i mean what can you even say about that. the tube, (gitzit it was then) was pretty awsome too.

[Columbia Craw]

Cotton Cordell Big O has to be in this conversation.  So does the Norman Deep Little N and the Rebel Ring Worm. The original Arkie Jig gets an honorable mention.

[scaleface]

Crankbaits , a lot of different ones

Spinnerbaits , they all work

Buzzbaits, all of them

Texas rigged soft plastics . I like them all

Jig and pork or plastic , I'm not picky .

[Catt]

Gene Larew 7 1/2" Ringworms in Cinnamon Pepper Neon Junebug Laminate.

 

Gene Larew 6" Salty Hawg Craw in black with blue claws.

 

Mr Twister Phenom Worm 

 

Beatle Spin 1/4 oz white

 

Boogerman Buzzbait 

 

Stanley's Vibra-Shaft 

 

Rat-L-Trap Smokey Joe

 

Smithwick Rattlin Rogue in the color below which Smithwick said they never made.

 

 

[padon]

8 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

Cotton Cordell Big O has to be in this conversation.  So does the Norman Deep Little N and the Rebel Ring Worm. The original Arkie Jig gets an honorable mention.

i remember throwing a deep little n when i was a teenageroff the bank on points for prespawn fish. absolutely killed it that day. that was 30 some years ago and i still remember it.

[desmobob]

When I was a kid, I had a selection of various sizes and colors of Daredevle spoons.  I sure caught a lot of fish on the standard red-and-white striped ones.   All the Heddon baits were big favorites too.  And Mepps spinners...

 

My first rubber worm was by Creme, I think.  Orange, with a prop spinner and a few beads on the front and rigged with three gold-colored weedless hooks along the length.  I caught my first big bass on one of those.

 

Growing up, my magic baits were the..

 

Eppinger Daredvle

Mepps in-line spinner

Rapala floating minnow

Heddon Tiny Torpedo

Heddon Sonic

Creme rubber worm

 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

Surprised I forgot about the Gitzit.

[gim]

Bass Oreno.  It has good side to side action.  It was discontinued for a while, but they started making them again.  I've got two, one in red/white and another in frog (green with yellow spots).